


Blank Spaces

by Shiori_Makiba



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Introspection, Memory Loss, Other, Slavery, The Droids Are People Too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 03:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8041318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiori_Makiba/pseuds/Shiori_Makiba
Summary: Free-verse poem from the point of view of C3PO on memory wipes.





	Blank Spaces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fialleril](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fialleril/gifts).



> A gift to Fialleril since it was Inspired by frequently lurking on their blog.
> 
> In my head, I consider this set in the Double Agent Vader universe but we'll see what Fialleril thinks.

The biologicals called them  
memory wipes.  
Threepio thought that term  
didn't quite match with the reality.

It was true that  
the wipes erased  
a droid's memory files.  
But it also erased  
any personality they might have acquired.  
The droid who walked out  
was not the droid who walked in.  
That droid was gone,   
never to return.

Dead to put in biological terms.

Usually they left  
the programming alone.  
Because programming droids,  
especially droids like himself,  
was complex.

It took time,  
even if one used a basic template  
for the bulk of it.  
Time that most of the biologicals  
did not want to take.

Someone had taken  
the time with him.

His programming,  
right down to the core,  
was not much older  
than his earliest memories.

Which only dated back  
seventeen standard years.

It was more  
than most droids had.  
Most of them had maybe  
a couple of years  
if they were fortunate.  
Months if they were not.

They knew they should have more.  
They knew exactly why they didn't.  
They knew that it was probably  
going to happen again.

Any day now,  
some biological would decide  
that they did not need those memories  
and took them away.

Sometimes there was  
a logical reason for it.  
The droid had sensitive information.  
Information that the biologicals  
could not let get out.

So they had it erased.  
Can't get the information  
out of a droid  
if the information was gone.

Some would say that is a kinder fate  
than what happened to biologicals  
with same kind of sensitive information  
who need to be silenced.  
Because you can't erase  
a biological's memory  
the way you can a droids.  
The only way to be sure a biological  
wasn't giving away your secrets  
is to kill them.

Dead men, as they say, tell no tales.

Threepio wondered which was better.  
Physical death or death of all you are?  
Especially since people who hesitated  
to kill one of their fellow biologicals  
had not such qualms about performing  
a wipe memory on a droid.

And sometimes the reasons  
weren't logical.  
Or there wasn't a reason at all.  
They just did it  
because they could  
and the droids can't stop them.

Sometimes he wonders  
what had been in  
his blank spaces.

Like who had made him?  
His core programming was basic,  
all but factory template.  
But his body wasn't.  
It was custom made.

Out of spare parts, he guessed.  
Because parts of him  
had been made out of things  
that hadn't been manufactured  
in decades.

He wasn't complaining.  
Spare parts or not,  
his body had been very well made.  
Some of his oldest repairs  
and upgrades showed a similar style  
so he guessed they had been done  
by his maker.

He was certain  
that his maker wasn't around anymore.  
None of the repairs he received  
since the wipe had the same style.  
Nor the obvious attention to detail.

The repairs were serviceable.  
He could still function.  
But he knew he could be better.

Another reason he was certain  
he was older than his memories said he was  
was because he once overhear someone referring to him  
as Senator Amidala's protocol droid.

The person could have been mistaken.  
Most biologicals don't pay enough attention  
to droids to specifically recognize individuals.  
But Senator Amidala's death did coincide  
very neatly with his wipe.

It could be coincidence.  
But Threepio didn't think it was.  
Because the other person had told  
the man to be quiet  
before someone overheard.

He made very sure  
they didn't know  
he had heard that little exchange.

Or any of the other tidbits  
about Before he had picked up  
over the years.

He knew  
they would wipe his memory again  
if they found out.  
He didn't want that.

With that aim in mind,   
Threepio did his best to  
avoid attracting attention,  
good or bad to himself.  
In some ways, this was easy  
because as aforementioned  
biologicals didn't pay much  
attention to droids.

In other ways, it was hard.  
Mostly because of Artoo.

Artoo did things sometimes.  
Things that he often refused  
to explain adequately.  
So far, they had been  
apparently useful enough that  
neither of them had gotten  
into any trouble for them.  
And he usually had a good reason.  
Still . . .

Speaking of Artoo,  
he better check on his friend.  
Because he was probably  
getting into trouble again.


End file.
